It is highly desirable in the paper tissue industry to provide tissue products, such as bath tissues, facial tissues or kitchen towels, having a structure that exhibits the desired value for several properties, such as dry and wet strength, bulk, flexibility and resiliency. Structures having a relatively high bulk generally lead to better absorption and more effective cleaning. Flexible structures offer lower stiffness, a softer hand feel and may also improve cleaning properties. However, due to the formation of hydrogen bonding among fibers during the tissue web dewatering and drying processes, tissue sheets resulting from conventional wet-laid tissue making processes tend to have a sheet structure which exhibits a relatively high density (low bulk), high stiffness (low softness) and low resiliency (poor hand feel and low sheet bulk in wound products).
Therefore there is a need for a simple method of making a tissue sheet having a unique structure which simultaneously exhibits a combination of desirable properties, such as high bulk, flexibility and resiliency with good absorption, soft hand feel and suitable wet and dry strength.